At approximately 8.20pm on Friday, 7 February a surfer off Porpoise Bay Beach near Curio Bay was bitten by a shark.

The surfer, a 28 year old man was on his board about 50m out from the beach when the shark attacked. The man received three bite wounds to his leg from his thigh to his calf.

The man was flown by rescue helicopter to Southland Hospital where he is in a stable condition.

The Department of Conservation have been notified. Notices are being put up in the vicinity of Porpoise Bay advising of this attack and requesting people to not swim in this area until further notification from DOC.

John PINE
Senior Sergeant
Invercargill Police

The parties involved have requested that personal details not be released to the media.

A surfer being attacked by a shark in a Southland bay punched it in the face to free himself from its grip.

The 28-year-old man was on his board about 50m out from Porpoise Bay Beach, near Curio Bay, about 8.30 last night when the attack happened, police said.

Nick Smart was surfing about 100 metres away and witnessed the incident.

"He was sitting on his surfboard and the shark came up from nowhere and hit him.

"He struggled for a bit and then punched the shark and it let him go."

The man then made his own way to shore before being assisted by a doctor and a nurse, who just happened to be at the beach, Smart said.

They applied a tourniquet and gave him first aid and blankets while they waited for an ambulance to arrive.

The man was surprisingly calm throughout the entire ordeal, Smart said.

"He was totally coherent and talking.

"He was definitely in a bit of pain but he handled it really well.

"His partner was on the beach and she was right there as well so he had a lot of support."
The man's friends believed it to be a sevengill shark, although they couldn't be sure of that, and about two to three metres in length, Smart said.

An ambulance arrived about 40 minutes after the attack and transported the man to Southland Hospital, where he remained in a stable condition today.

The man was bitten three times from his thigh to his calf and there was "lots of blood", a police spokesman said.

The attack was a real shock to everyone in the Catlins area, Smart said.

"Mate, it's the first time there has ever been a shark attack in the Catlins and there has never been a shark attack in this bay.

"There's been so many dolphins in the bay over the last few days as well.

"I've spent thousands of hours in this shore break and the thought [of a shark attack] doesn't even cross my mind... but it does now."

The attack would not put surfers off from returning to the water, with some already saying they were keen to get back out there, Smart said.

"There is no-one out there at the moment but there is people wanting to go out and there will be people out there later today."

Two weeks ago Invercargill doctor James Grant was also attacked by a shark in Southland's Garden Bay.

He fought off what was believed to be a sevengill shark, and stitched himself up before his friends took him to hospital.

‘‘I was worried I was going to lose my leg. I got here [hospital] and I was just really happy that I had needles in me.’’

He was rushed into surgery to have the four lacerations sewn up. With ‘‘quite a bit’’ of muscle damage, it was thought Mills would have to have two surgeries, but instead was expected to recover with just one.

Yesterday, he remained in hospital, with stitches up his right leg, where the shark attacked.

Despite still clearly being in pain from the attack and the surgery, he planned to return to the water at some stage.

‘‘When it first happened, I was like, I don’t want to go into a bath tub.’’

Mills and Thomson said they just wanted to say thank you to everyone who helped.

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‘‘They were just so helpful, it could have been just so different. Lucky is just definitely the word.’’

Mills, who is ‘‘really curious’’ about sharks, said he believed the shark was a baby great white. ‘‘I’m pretty sure it was a small great white because of the teeth marks in the board.’’

Conservation Department marine scientist and shark expert Clinton Duffy said it was likely to be a baby great white.

‘‘They are really common.’’ While the small ones didn’t traditionally eat large mammals, they were ‘‘chasing animals’’.

But Duffy said there was little way of avoiding shark attacks.

‘‘Stop surfing, but if you don’t want to do that then avoid areas with lots of dolphins and seals.’’

The only comfort is that, on average there is only about two shark attacks in New Zealand a year, and so far, this is the second attack in Southland.